This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Homeschool Yo Kids with Jae Carter.

Homeschool Yo Kids with Jae Carter

One of we 7Sisters’ favorite things is to make new friends. In this episode, we are so excited to introduce our friends to Jae Carter from Homeschool Yo Kids. We have been following Homeschool Yo Kids for a while and love how they are serving the homeschool community in so many unique ways.

Jae Carter’s story

Jae’s experience with education began with over fourteen years in the public school system. However, even before she had kids, she would always say, “I’m gonna homeschool my kids!”

A teacher’s influence

Jae grew up with two competing desires: to teach and inspire students in a traditional school setting, and to teach and inspire her own kids through homeschooling. She had wanted to be a teacher since fifth grade because of her teacher, Ms. Crawford (“shout out to her”). Mrs. Crawford was inspiring and impactful. Her relationship with the fifth graders awakened in Jae the love of teaching.

An influential teacher

Jae loved teaching her students. She ignited their love of learning. Many of her students had parents who were only marginally involved with their education, so what they experienced at school was not reinforced at home. In contrast, Jae was able to excite her seventh through twelfth graders about school and to believe in their ability to succeed at learning.

“I tell you, the kids used to look forward to coming into my classroom. They would see me in the hallway and tell me, ‘Oh, Ms. Carter, I’m gonna have your class next year!'”

But then 2020 happened

We all remember the world health crisis in 2020. Jae’s classes were moved to Zoom. At the same time, she was automatically homeschooling her own kids. In truth, Jae had always been “homeschooling”. From the time that her kids were two years old, she was talking to them like she did with her middle and high school students.

Jae’s children learned to listen and think well from an early age. This was such a contrast with many of her high school students. She worked with some students who were teens, but without parent involvement, were years behind in their reading and writing skills.

Jae felt guilty about leaving the high school students. However, the pandemic and the frustrations of teaching on Zoom while teaching her own kids solidified her desire to officially homeschool her kids.

Jae and her husband moved the family from Virginia to Arizona, and she started homeschooling her kids full-time. Her oldest child was in second grade, and the second was getting ready to start school. They have been homeschooling ever since. It is the perfect fit for the family.

Starting Homeschool Yo Kids

As Jae says, “Teaching and loving on kids is my issue.” She loved inspiring her students. Also, she loved teaching and inspiring her own kids. So, being in a new location and restricted from other activities because the world was shut down due to the pandemic gave the opportunity to launch into homeschooling.

But then, Jae said to herself, “You’re homeschooling your kids, but what about everyone else?”

She knew that at the end of the day, her kids were still gonna have to go outside and interact with everyone else. So, she asked herself,
“What am I gonna do to make sure everyone else is just as healthy and happy as my kids?”

Jae believes in parental involvement in education. In fact she trains parents that even if they cannot homeschool full time, “everyone should be homeschooling regardless of if your child’s in public school, private school, or charter school”.

Helping to make homeschooling accessible to lots of people

Jae wanted to help more homeschooling parents get started homeschooling their kids. So, she created the app Homeschool Yo Kids to give them to show:

• state laws
• educational requirements
• homeschool and other educational resources

While the app has homeschool information, it does not give the feeling of “we’re omeschoolers and we’re the cool ones”. Rather, it gives resources for parent involvement and resources for education, homeschooling or not.

Diversity and homeschooling

When Jae attended her homeschool conference in Arizona, it was all white folks. She thought, “We need a little more representation!” 

(Note: Vicki and 7Sister Marilyn have been saying that since they were in Delaware state homeschool leadership thirty years ago!)

So, Jae and her husband set about bringing homeschooling to a more diverse community, not only in Arizona, but all over the United States!

They began the Homeschool Yo Kids Expo. Based in their renovated and homeschool-decorated RV, they traveled to seven states. In each state, they presented workshops and introduced the local communities to the homeschool guides and resources available in their own areas.

Then there were fourteen

The number of cities they visited has increased each year. They presented the Homeschool Yo Kids Expo in fourteen cities last year!

While they travel, the family does road schooling. Jae’s kids love the adventure of learning about different places around the country while also getting their lessons completed. They enjoy each stop and every time we they leave one Expo location, they say, “Can we stay a little longer?”

About the Homeschool Yo Kids Expo

When the Expo comes to town, people will find:

• How-to workshops (these are usually brief, around fifteen minutes, so that no one gets bored)
  • One of the speakers at the Maryland Homeschool Yo Kids Expo has been our good friend and cousin, Natalie Mack. Check out her Homeschool Highschool Podcast interview about ASVAB.
• Curriculum and resources
• Exhibitors (especially from the local community)
• Information on local homeschooling resources, such as co-op information
• Opportunities for building community

She likes to maintain a community feel about the Expos, so she aims for around thirty or forty families in attendance. She knows that families new to homeschooling are often feeling like, “I’m about to jump into this new world, and I don’t know anything about it. I just need support.”

Jae plans on every family leave the Expo at the end of the day with access to resources and support. One example of a family leaving the Expo with the support and guidance they needed was the new homeschool mom in Texas who drove six hours to the attend the event. She had the opportunity to ask the questions that she needed to ask and buy the stuff that she wanted to buy. She told Jae afterwards that she felt really supported.

Jae said, “And I was just like, see that? That’s what this is all about!”

Check out Jae Carter at the Homeschool Yo Kids Expo, YouTube, Podcast and more!

Connect with Jay Carter and Homeschool Yo Kids:

• Homeschool Yo Kids for info about the traveling Expo
  • When will it arrive in your area?
• Homeschool Yo Kids podcast
• Homeschool Yo Kids on YouTube
• Get the Homeschool Yo Kids app

Thanks to Seth Tillman for editing!

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